The PASSION project will develop new photonic technologies for supporting agile metro networks, enabling capacities of Tb/s per channel, 100 Tb/s per link and Pb/s per node over increased transport distances. A new metro network infrastructure is envisioned, fitting the network operator roadmap and targeting at least a tenfold reduction in components energy consumption and footprint. These breakthroughs are achieved by developing all the essential photonic building blocks. On the transmitter side a novel 3D stacked modular design will be developed combining a silicon photonics (SiPh) circuit layer with directly modulated high-bandwidth 1550nm VCSELs light sources. At the receiver side we will develop novel InP based coherent receiver arrays which handle polarization on chip making polarization handling off chip unnecessary. Finally, we will develop a compact and cost-effective switching concept which can support the Pb/s capacities generated by the transceiver modules, using a combination of InP and SiPh PICs. Increased system flexibility and modularity is obtained by sliceable bandwidth/bitrate variable transceivers. The resulting solution will offer scalability, programmability and re-configurability using agile aggregation in spectrum, polarization and space dimensions. PASSION will contribute to reinforce European industrial technological leadership in high-capacity photonic devices and sub-systems, addressing the growing market of metro network scenarios, improving business opportunities in Europe. The PASSION consortium includes universities, research centres, device manufacturers, a supplier of communication equipment and a network operator addressing the entire value chain. The strong industrial commitment is demonstrated through the presence of two large enterprises and four SMEs, which will identify the path to industrial exploitation, standardization and commercialization, while universities and research centres will support the scientific dissemination.

PHACTORY is a unique pan-European consortium operating as a one-stop-shop virtual factory for photonics innovation support of European industry. PHACTORY brings together over 30 partners representing Europe’s top competence centers in photonics. Together the PHACTORY partners offer open streamlined access to the full spectrum of photonics technologies, expertise and supply chain activities from TRL2-7 including pilot lines and PIC foundries, combined with specialist partners in business, investment, intellectual property, and EU manufacturing support services to maximize the commercial impact from the project. PHACTORY’s ambitious work plan builds on the proven track record of over 20 years of successful collaboration between the consortium partners in previous similar EU projects and aims to go well beyond the current state-of-the-art in terms of its impact. PHACTORY will reach out broadly to European industry, especially SMEs, start-ups, and scaling companies, predominantly as first users and early adopters, to generate a critical mass of 125 carefully selected support cases with the highest potential for commercial impact. PHACTORY will work closely with the selected support cases, providing deep technology support interventions for TRL acceleration through intensive cross-border collaborative innovation projects, combined with tailored business supports to accelerate the investment readiness levels (IRL) of the supported companies. As a result, PHACTORY expects to achieve a quantified impact of at least 1250 new EU jobs, 937M€ in new company revenues, and 190M€ in new venture capital on aggregate within the supported companies directly related to the delivered PHACTORY innovation supports. The PHACTORY project will simultaneously strengthen the European photonics innovation ecosystem with more complete and mature value chains linked to EU manufacturing which are integrated into the PhotonHub Association for sustainability of the innovation support services.

PIXAPP will establish the world’s first open access Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) assembly & packaging Pilot Line. It combines a highly-interdisciplinary team of Europe’s leading industrial & research organisations. PIXAPP provides Europe’s SMEs with a unique one-stop-shop, enabling them to exploit the breakthrough advantages of PIC technologies. PIXAPP bridges the ‘valley of death’, providing SMEs with an easy access route to take R&D results from lab to market, giving them a competitive advantage over global competition. Target markets include communications, healthcare & security, which are of great socio-economic importance to Europe. PIXAPP’s manufacturing capabilities can support over 120 users per year, across all stages of manufacturing, from prototyping to medium scale manufacture. PIXAPP bridges missing gaps in the value chain, from assembly & packaging, through to equipment optimisation, test and application demonstration. To achieve these ambitious objectives, PIXAPP will; 1) Combine a group of Europe’s leading industrial & research organisations in an advanced PIC assembly & packaging Pilot Line facility.2) Develop an innovative Pilot Line operational model that coordinates activities between consortium partners & supports easy user access through a single entry point. 3) Establish packaging standards that provide cost-efficient assembly & packaging solutions, enabling transfer to full-scale industrial manufacture. 4) Create the highly-skilled workforce required to manage & operate these industrial manufacturing facilities.5) Develop a business plan to ensure Pilot Line sustainability & a route to industrial manufacturing. PIXAPP will deliver significant impacts to a wide stakeholder group, highlighting how industrial & research sectors can collaborate to address emerging socio-economic challenges.

The urgent need to provide miniaturized optical components is at the origin of the exponential growth of the micro-optics market over the last decade, with an increasing need for free-form micro-optics to address the challenges set by the photonics market for the five to ten years to come. The industrial demand for free-form microlens arrays (FMLAs) is a current market reality. However, the high access barriers to pre-commercial production capabilities in Europe prevent companies, especially SMEs, from commercially exploiting the FMLA technology. Aim of the project is to set up a self-sustainable pilot-line for the design and manufacturing of FMLAs solutions and their integration into high added-value products. The consortium translates urgent and high-impact industrial needs into industrially relevant predictive software packages, manufacturing tools and processes, characterization methods for in- and off-line quality inspection and integration schemes, all necessary for the successful demonstration in pre-commercial production runs. Objective of the project is 1) to mature the FMLAs manufacturing processes and functionalities from the current technology readiness level TRL 5 to TRL 7 and increase the overall manufacturing readiness level of the pilot line from MRL 5 -6 up to MRL 8-9 by adaptation of predictive algorithms into simulation packages, optimization of different ultraprecision micro-machining technologies for the origination of high-quality FMLAs, optimization of high-throughput UV imprint technologies, integration of a surface coating technique portfolio, optimization of the metrology procedure; 2) to implement six industrial use-cases demonstrating pilot manufacturing in their operational environment; 3) to establish an open-access, sustainable, distributed pilot line infrastructure with single entry point; 4) to validate the pilot line services through the implementation of 20 industrial pilot cases.

RETINA aims at developing two new photonic-based sensory systems encompassing hardware and software solutions to meet the high added value and customised needs of the healthcare, automotive and agriculture sectors. The project will define a holistic framework for photonic technologies development where specific efforts on next-generation hardware solutions —focused on a novel PIC-based LIDAR solution, and cost-efficient CMOS, InGaAs and QDs snapshot spectral imagers— are coupled with the creation of a digital infrastructure for agile and efficient Machine Learning-based perception algorithms development. RETINA will demonstrate how direct collaboration among photonic solutions developers and manufacturers, data elaboration and AI experts, as well as leading sectorial companies of strategic sectors can steer the agile development of customised sensory systems and their deployment and validation in operational environments. The project will show the potential for adaptability, scalability and transferability of these photonic-based solutions by addressing a range of industrial needs in an efficient and cost-effective manner, namely i) tumorous cells identification and blood perfusion monitoring in surgical applications; ii)advanced ADAS vehicle collision detection systems for autonomous driving; and iii) precision viticulture solutions for hydric status management and prediction of pathogens infections.